The Bigger Reason

01/04/2016 01:39PM
● Published by Paul Hunter

It’s that time of year when many
people have already decided their goals for 2016. Some call them goals,
others “New Year’s Resolutions.” Whatever you call them, about 45% of
Americans usually make some and only 8% are on record for successfully
achieving them.

According to the Harvard study on
goal setting, only 3% of the class wrote down their goals and a plan to achieve
them. When rechecked 10 years later, those 3% were earning 10 times as
much as the other 97% combined! Evidently, writing your goals and an
action plan to achieve your goal is vital for success.

Something that is rarely mentioned
in regard to resolution/goal setting is what do you do when you slip?
What happens when you fall short or dare I say, fail? What do you do when
you fail to do what you set out to do? Do you stop everything or do as
Hernán Cortés did and “burn the boats?”

So often, we allow setbacks and
failure to stop us in our tracks. Some will say it’s because we weren’t
committed enough in the first place. Some will say it is due to a lack
of planning - planning and being prepared for what to do when failure or
setbacks occur. Frequently, when I ask my clients what their goals are, my
next question is “Why?” Why do they have that goal?

It goes something like this:

Me: “What
do you want to accomplish?”

Client: “I
want to get in shape.”

Me: “Why
do you want to get in shape?”

Client: “Because
I need more energy.”

Me: “Good. Why do you need more energy?”

Client: “So
I can keep up with my kids.”

Me: “So
you want to be actively involved with your kids, and more energy will help?”

Client: “YES!”

Me: “Excellent. So when you complain that something is
too difficult and do not want to go on, I can remind you of this
conversation?”

Client: “Uh,
you got me.”

Being healthy and in shape is
typically a means to an end, not the final result in and of itself. Thus, I
search for the deeper reason. It gives each session, repetition, increase
in resistance, incline and exercise a meaning instead of just going through the
motions.

So, what is your reason? Why
do you want to eat healthy, get in shape, lose weight, get stronger, etc., etc.,
etc.? Why, why, why? Get to the bottom of it and you may just find
a deep-seated reason as to why you can’t give up on your goals. What will
keep you going when you just don’t want to?

Let’s get back to Hernán
Cortés. Remember him?

In 1519, Hernán Cortés, with some
600 Spaniards, 16 or so horses and 11 boats, landed on a vast inland plateau
called Mexico. These guys were about to embark on a con­quest of an
empire that hoarded some of the world’s great­est trea­sure. Gold, sil­ver
and pre­cious Aztec jew­els were just some of what this trea­sure had to offer to
any­one who suc­ceeded in their quest to obtain it.

Instead of charg­ing through
cities and forc­ing his men into imme­di­ate bat­tle, Hernán Cortés stayed on
the beach and awoke the souls of his men with melo­di­ous cadences in the form
of embla­zoned speeches urging the spirit of adventure and invoking the thirst
of life­times of for­tune amongst his troops.

But iron­i­cally, it would only
just be three words that Cortés’ mur­mured that would change the his­tory of
the New World. As they marched inland to face their ene­mies, Cortés
ordered, “Burn the boats.”

It was a deci­sion that should
have back­fired, for if Cortés and his men were on the brink of defeat, there
wasn’t an exit strat­egy in place to save their lives. Remark­ably
though, the com­mand to burn the boats had an oppo­site effect on his men
because now they were left with only two choices — die, or ensure vic­tory.
And fight they did.

We know today how Cortés’ deci­sion
to burn his boats panned out. Hernán Cortés became the first man in 600
years to suc­cess­fully con­quer Mexico.

Though his­to­ri­ans still dis­pute
the verac­ity of Hernán Cortés burn­ing his boats, it’s doubt­less that Cortés
did destroy his boats.

Allow your goals, dreams and
resolutions to be bigger than anything that may come in the way. Prepare
for these setbacks.

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